Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Frances Lincoln Limited, the award–winning publisher, and Seven Stories, the Centre for Children’s Books, have launched the next Diverse Voices Award in memory of Frances Lincoln (1945 – 2001). The Award aims to encourage and promote diversity in children’s fiction.

THE PURPOSE OF THE FRANCES LINCOLN DIVERSE VOICES CHILDREN’S BOOK AWARD IS TO:

• Take positive steps to increase the representation of people writing from or about different cultural perspectives, whose work is published in Britain today.

• Promote new writing for children, especially by or about people whose culture and voice are currently under-represented.

• Recognise that as children’s books shape our earliest perceptions of the world and its cultures, promoting writing that represents diversity will contribute to social and cultural tolerance.

• Support the process of writing rather than, as with the majority of prizes, promoting the publication.

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award is for a manuscript that celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author. The prize of £1,500, plus the option for Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish the novel, will be awarded to the best work of unpublished fiction for 8–to-12-year-olds by a writer, aged 18 years or over, who has not previously published a novel for children. The writer may have contributed to an anthology of prose or poetry. The work must be written in English and it must be a minimum of 15,000 words and a maximum of 35,000 words. Previously submitted manuscripts which were not short-listed may be re-entered two more times.

The closing date for all entries is Monday 31 December 2012. The winner will be announced at an award ceremony in spring 2013.

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children’s Book Award is supported by Frances Lincoln Limited, Seven Stories, the national centre for children’s books and Arts Council England

ENTRY CRITERIA

The Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Children's Book Award is for a manuscript that celebrates cultural diversity in the widest possible sense, either in terms of its story or in terms of the ethnic and cultural origins of its author. The prize of £1,500, plus the option for Janetta Otter-Barry at Frances Lincoln Children’s Books to publish the novel, will be awarded to the best work of unpublished fiction for 8—t0—12-year-olds by a writer, aged 18 years or over, who has not previously published a novel for children. The writer may have contributed to an anthology of prose or poetry. The work must be written in English and it must be a minimum of 15,000 words and a maximum of 35,000 words. Previously submitted manuscripts which were not short-listed may be re—entered on two more occasions.

The closing date for all entries is midnight on Monday 31 December 2012.

Only one submission per writer will be accepted.

Retellings of a published or traditional story will not be considered.

All applicants must be aged 18 or over by the closing date.

Submissions cannot be accepted from employees or their relatives of Frances Lincoln Limited or Seven Stories, the national centre for chi|dren’s books.

Submissions cannot be accepted from employees of partner organisations who are receiving a payment from Seven Stories or Frances Lincoln Ltd for promoting the Diverse Voices Award.

The winner will be announced at an Award Ceremony in spring 2013. The Judges’ decision is final.

Previously published refers to a writer who is currently or has previously been accepted onto a publisher's list and has had a novel published for the 8-125 or teen/young adult age groups. This includes independent publishers who covered the costs of publication and/or promotion.

A writer who has worked with an independent publisher or has self—published a novel for the 8-12s or teen/young adult age groups and can demonstrate that he/she self-ﬁnanced all or part of the publishing and promotion costs should enquire about their eligibility to enter.

Publisher's Submissions must be one complete novel. A collection or series of stories will not be considered.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All Submissions

Your manuscript must be written in English and be a minimum of 15,000 words and a maximum of 35,000 words.

Your manuscript should be typed in a clear font such as, Times Roman, Verdana, Arial, Courier, Garamond, Helvetica and at least 10 point.

Please include the title of your manuscript on each page.

Each page of your manuscript should be clearly numbered.

Please mark your manuscript at the point where your word count reaches 5,000.

Please do not include your name or contact details anywhere on your manuscript.

Entries received after the closing date will not be considered.

Email Submissions

Email submissions are welcomed.

Manuscripts and entry forms should be attached as word documents no bigger than 2MB each.

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